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52 Games. 1 Year. 2024. [BacklogBeat]

Mhmmm 2077

Member
I'm sure I'll drop the challenge anyway... or forget about this post, but let's try:

0. Game Title (Platform) | Date - Time played | Rating - one sentence "review"
1. Bardbarian (PC) | Jan 7 - 9.5h | 3.5/5 I had lots of fun with this, kiiinda reminded me of Vampire Survivors, just way earlier and not as hardcore I guess
2. Hidden Folks (PC) | Jan 9 - 8.3h | 3.5/5 pretty fun, reminded me of Where's Waldo, but some stuff was waaaay to hidden
 
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I really need to finish Lies of P, I am stuck on one of the early bosses and logged off because I wasnt in a soul's mood. I need to revisit. Im on the kings flame
It's a great game but really some bosses can be bullshit. It wants you to perfect parry but the parry window is like half of what Sekiro had. Godspeed!
 

SpiceRacz

Member
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This is where I'm currently at on my backlog, courtesy of Backloggd.com.

I played through a romhack version of Metroid with a map and other various QOL improvements. I've started the game in the past and never finished it. Needless to say, it's Metroid. It holds up remarkably well. Especially with the map and other added features.

Super Mario 3D Land was a little shallow. The levels are surprisingly short. It controls like a dream though. It has a lot of nice callbacks to all the classic Mario games, including 1, 3, and World. Overall, really enjoyed it.

Panzer Dragoon Saga is a masterpiece as far as RPGs go from that generation. I really wish I could have experienced it when it came out. I appreciate the length of the game and that it doesn't outstay it's welcome. The cinematics really stood out to me. It feels a step above it's contemporaries. I'd have to really think about it, but it might be my favorite JRPG from this generation after playing it.

I'm working my way through Samus Returns right now, but I have about a dozen metroids left. So, I should be wrapping it up soon.
 

PanzerCute

Member
Cool idea! I will try the challenge this year, count me in. For now I have finished two games:

A Plague Tale Requiem on PS5
Slain on Switch (terrible version)

I will update my post with small reviews, images and new games completed when I have more time.

Btw quick question: do we have to start the game in 2024 or does it work if its a game I started before?
Thanks!
 
Btw quick question: do we have to start the game in 2024 or does it work if its a game I started before?
Thanks!
It's really your call. Most people count any game that they finished in the year of the challenge. You could technically take a game to 99% in the previous year and cross the line on 1/1 and count it. Again, ultimately it is your call on how you police. Most do it that way, including me. If I get to the finish line in the year of the challenge, it counts!

Good luck!
 

Dacvak

No one shall be brought before our LORD David Bowie without the true and secret knowledge of the Photoshop. For in that time, so shall He appear.
Knocked out Ridge Racer Type 4 (excellent game, not enough content) and Altered Beast (kind of meh). Playing through retro games for this challenge may seem like cheating, but I won’t have the time to game much until March.
 

Jooxed

Gold Member
IM working on like 4 RPG's right now instead of mixing in some short games. IDK why i do this to myself. Currently working on FF Pixel Remaster 4, Trails Zero, Dragon Quest Monsters, NEO The World Ends with you.
 

marcincz

Member
Game 3 - Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty (PS3) - 04h 38m
Beat 15/01/2024 - my score: 6/10
Game 4 - Erica (PS4) - 01h 38m
Beat 22/01/2024 - my score: 6/10

Last two titles this month.
Next month, I am going to start Yakuza from last year and Persona 3 or Trails from Zero.
 
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bender

What time is it?
Hooray!

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I actually had more trouble with Danger 4 (Brotato) which I stubbornly finished with Multitasker. Tried out the Knight class on a whim and cleared Danger 5 in two attempts.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
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Game 7 - 12 Labours of Hercules XII: Timeless Adventure - PC / Steam - Completed Jan 22nd, 2024
Another year, another Hercules game that is 99% the same as the last one. For some reason, I really dig these games - they have a good flow to them, and they usually make me think and strategize. It also helps that they're usually incredibly cheap on Steam sales. Completed this one with all gold times - and even beat one of the developers records (badly) on one of the super secret stages. Fun stuff, can't wait for part XIII!
 

Midn1ght

Member
52 games challenge 2024
Completed: 34/52
Completionist Profile
1. Grand Theft Auto IV
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 8.5/10
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2. Death Stranding
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 9/10
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3. Finding Paradise
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 9/10
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4. Remember Me
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 7/10
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5. The Unfinished Swan
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 7/10
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6. A Plague Tale: Innocence
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 9/10
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7. RiME
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 7/10
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8. Mirror's Edge
- Platform: PS3 - Score: 9.5/10
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9. Infamous
- Platform: PS3 - Score: 6.5/10
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10. Old Man's Journey
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 7/10
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11. Unpacking
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 7/10
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12. Shadow of the Tomb Raider
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 6.5/10
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13. Pantsu Hunter: Back to the 90s
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 7/10
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14. The Turing Test
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 8/10
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15. Trek To Yomi
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 6.5/10
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16. God Of War III
- Platform: PS3 - Score: 8.5/10
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17. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 8/10
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18. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 7/10
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19. Super Mario Bros. Wonder
- Platform: Nintendo Switch - Score: 8/10
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20. Ridge Racer 7
- Platform: PS3 - Score: 7/10
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21. Spec Ops: The Line
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 8/10
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22. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Platform: Nintendo Switch - Score: 7.5/10
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23. Forza Horizon 4
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 8/10
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24. Portal 2
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 9.5/10
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25. Life is Strange
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 6/10
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26. Cloudpunk: City of Ghosts
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 8/10
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27. Super Mario Party
- Platform: Nintendo Switch - Score: 6/10
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28. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Platform: Nintendo Switch - Score: 9/10
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29. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
- Platform: Nintendo Switch - Score: 8/10
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30. Impostor Factory
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 8.5/10
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31. Pilgrims
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 7/10
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32. Creaks
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 7.5/10
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33. Home
- Platform: PC / Steam - Score: 7/10
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34. Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty
- Platform: PS3 - Score: 8/10
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SpiceRacz

Member
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Wrapped up New Super Mario Bros. 2. The impression I got from the internet was it was not a very good game. I think it's a step up from the first game on DS. The level design is overall better and more creative. There's an emphasis on coin collecting and in turn, you accumulate more lives, like in the 100s. Mario games are forgiving, so I don't have an issue with this. It's not difficult by any means and that was fine for me. I just played through DKC Returns and needed something I could kind of just breeze through.
 
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4. The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure

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49:24h*
. All requests (Followed a guide so I didn't miss any). Got Detective Rank 2 probably because I wasn't able to win any of the fucking optional boss fights you're supposed to lose.

Trails to Azure is generally lauded as the best Kiseki game. I'm more of a TOCS guy, but I see where the praise comes from. The Crossbell saga in general and Azure in particular reaches a great equilibrium between the classic JRPG fare of the TiTS (yeah, yeah) games and the more "name-dropping" power-level-creeping, political intrigue with waifus setting of the later games. However, I did realize most of the points of contention that people dislike from TOCS (Bonding points, clueless casanova protagonist, weird localization, incredibly low-stakes battles where most people survive...) are already present here, so maybe what people like the most about about Crossbell is both the setting and the character roster, which are pretty strong.

* While the timer says 49h, I noticed that playing battles at 4x turbo speed and going through the world at 2x turbo didn't make the timer adjust accordingly, like it does in later games. The real gametime is probably more around 60-65h.

SteamDeck: Perfect OOTB.

My Score: ★★★

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5. Half-Life Alyx

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13:54h.
Easy difficulty.

Alyx is an achievement. There's no other word to describe it. With time, this will be considered as important as Super Mario 64 or Tetris. It's the first truly AAA VR game that makes you feel like you're somewhere else. Other games get close, but they don't reach this level of perfection. One for the books.

My Score: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

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6. Halls of Torment

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31:23h.
All characters unlocked, all character quests beaten, all levels beaten in Agony mode.

One of the best auto-looter games. While very obviously inspired by Vampire Survivors (to the point that you can easily reuse tactics from that game here) it does have much less character variety, but the characters themselves are much more fleshed out, with stat "weights" that make them feel much more different from one another than those in VS. While the quest system is nice on paper, the lack of more "visual" objectives makes the game feel a bit repetitive after a while, but it's still very addictive.

SteamDeck: Perfect OOTB. Be careful however - Agony V brings gaming computers to their knees.

My Score: ★★★★

Original post
 

Jooxed

Gold Member
Game 7 - 1/24- AI Somnium Files - Not the biggest VN person but I did enjoy Dangaropa 1 and 2. This one was enjoyable but not as great as those games. The main gimmick just made me feel super pressured anytime I had to do it. I liked the story more.
 
January 2024 Roundup
Total: 5/52


Original Post

1- CloudPunk - 15 Hours - PS5 - Jan 5th

Not a good start of the year with this game to be honest. It’s a very simple game in its premise, but even then I ended up not liking the execution. The story is not that interesting for the amount of dialogue the game has, the world design, while cool at first, does not offer any kind of variety between its main cities, the controls are really unsatisfying and level design is annoyingly confusing. I can’t recommend this one and I don’t have too much to talk about it.

2- Ready or Not - 49 Hours - Steam - Jan 13th

Now this is more like it. It is a spiritual successor of the SWAT games, and it accomplishes what it sets out to do really well. It doesn’t hold back in its violence, themes, and atmosphere. Each level requires a different balance of approach between being a little faster or more tactical and careful. There’s a good variety of weapons and accessories to customize your character and your team, so you can choose between being lethal and getting the job done fast, or trying to use non lethal weapons but being exposed to a heavier firepower than yours.
The enemy AI can be very hit or miss depending on the level though, and to fix that I highly recommend using the built-in mod support to add AI Overhaul while it is not officially patched. It doesn’t make the game easy by any means, it just fixes some balancing issues and makes it fairer. Overall a really good experience and a great co-op game as well.

3- Rally Cross - 3 Hours - PS5 - Jan 16th

A 1997 game that I used to play as a kid on the PS1. I was positively surprised when Sony included it in the PS+ Classics and I decided to revisit it after almost 30 years.
This game can be really hard. Not only is the AI very fast, but the tracks are really difficult to master as well. Every car feels a little bit different to drive due to their weight distribution, and the uneven nature of the courses making the suspension bounce the cars all over the place.
A nice trip down memory lane with this one, and I even managed to get a new platinum trophy with it.

4- Splinter Cell - 14 Hours - PS3 - Jan 21st

The Splinter Cell IP was on my replay list for a while now. It was one of my favorite franchises in the past alongside Metal Gear Solid, and one that I really miss from time to time. I decided to buy the Trilogy remaster for the PS3, as Pandora Tomorrow is impossible to find anywhere for PC and I like to have the whole collection in one place.
For now I’ve only played the first game of the trilogy and it is… kinda good but kinda rough at the same time. I love that each mission is a stealth puzzle and offers some kind of freedom to the player. I found multiple ways to do some of the levels and that I think is where the game shines.
However, the forced combat in some of the levels is just horrible. Shooting in this game feels like the gun barrel is busted… the bullets go anywhere except where you’re aiming. I wouldn’t complain if the combat was 100% optional but it’s not the case. Thankfully the shooting sections are not that long, but playing through them can be quite frustrating, specially if you’re trying to kill less than 3 people per level to get a specific trophy.

5- Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - 29 Hours - PS5 - Jan 25th

Great game. Very well paced in its rewards and the unlocking of new mechanics. Fun exploration, rewarding combat, and clever puzzles. Honestly this is one of the most fun Metroidvanias I’ve played, and I would rank this as one of the best Prince of Persia games I’ve played as well. I enjoyed every minute of it and in the end got the platinum trophy.

February Preview:

Only one new game I’m interested in (FFVII Rebirth), and it comes out at the last day of the month, so February will be a month dedicated to playing a few games from my backlog. I’ve never played any of these games before so really looking forward to it:

Crysis 1, 2, 3
Resistance: Fall of Man
Pathologic 2
Bayonetta
 
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Dacvak

No one shall be brought before our LORD David Bowie without the true and secret knowledge of the Photoshop. For in that time, so shall He appear.
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I rolled Joe & Mac on GameBoy earlier today and blitzed through it. Not a terrible little action platformer, but VERY slow with a lot of janky hitboxes. I had to use save states at the beginning of each level, since I couldn’t figure out how to continue (if indeed there even is a continue function).

Pretty bad game by all modern standards, but it was at least somewhat entertaining when viewed through the lens of time.

5️⃣/🔟


In other news, my friend got me a modded PC Engine Duo, so I’m extremely excited to finally play through Bonk’s Adventure!
 
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jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
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Game 8 - Octopath Traveler II - PC / Steam - Completed Jan 28th, 2024
Easily my favorite JRPG of 2024, this game was amazing from start to finish. It took me almost a full year to finish the game, as I took a break after finishing my first character's final chapter. I'm glad I came back to it in earnest though, because the payoff at the end was emotional and incredible. I had nearly 100 hours on my save file, and there were still a lot of side quests and collectibles I missed. I hope that a third game in the series is made eventually, because this really is some of the best stuff that's come out of Square Enix in decades.
 

PanzerCute

Member
Finished a few games recently.

Little Goody Two Shoes. 7.5/10
Weird game combining horror elements and life sim "RPG" and adventure, with wonderful visuals and great storytelling. For 19e I recommend it.

Metroid Prime Remastered. 7/10
Surely a masterpiece at the time, but quite flawed by today standards. Level design, immersion and exploration are great, but the combat is terrible, controls should have been improved with this remastered and damn the backtracking (with no TP) became infuriating at the end.

Like A Dragon Gaiden. 7,5/10
Small episode in the series, but still very enjoyable and it was nice to have the beat'em up gameplay again. The ending was surprising, almost cried like a little **** (after 6 games with Kiryu, it is hard not to care)

God Of War Ragnarok. 5,5/10
I have not finished it but after 20h I just can not stand it anymore. Pacing is terrible, storytelling and characters are uninteresting AF, gameplay has not evolved at all since 2018.. and damn, where are the bosses? Why are there so many walking simulator parts?
 
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Jooxed

Gold Member
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Game 8 - Octopath Traveler II - PC / Steam - Completed Jan 28th, 2024
Easily my favorite JRPG of 2024, this game was amazing from start to finish. It took me almost a full year to finish the game, as I took a break after finishing my first character's final chapter. I'm glad I came back to it in earnest though, because the payoff at the end was emotional and incredible. I had nearly 100 hours on my save file, and there were still a lot of side quests and collectibles I missed. I hope that a third game in the series is made eventually, because this really is some of the best stuff that's come out of Square Enix in decades.
AHHH this was such a step above 1 which i enjoyed. Also one of my favorite games. Whos path did you like the most? I hope we get a 3.. I like how this one was just a little more modern in setting. Would be cool if they made an octopath - Modern Times then another in future times I think
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
AHHH this was such a step above 1 which i enjoyed. Also one of my favorite games. Whos path did you like the most? I hope we get a 3.. I like how this one was just a little more modern in setting. Would be cool if they made an octopath - Modern Times then another in future times I think
Honestly, they were all pretty great - but I started with Partitio, and ended up liking his path the most overall too. His voice actor really nailed it, and they almost got to Torneko Taloon levels of "open a shop, make tons of money" quest line stuff that I personally really enjoy. While he wasn't the strongest party member (especially towards the end), I abused the hell out of his Arrow of Fortune move early in the game to rack up massive amounts of JP for him, which was fun.

Also, shoutout to my boy Temenos - I really loved the detective / inquisition angle they went with for his character, far more refreshing than the goodie-two-shoes angle of the first game's cleric.
 

Jooxed

Gold Member
Honestly, they were all pretty great - but I started with Partitio, and ended up liking his path the most overall too. His voice actor really nailed it, and they almost got to Torneko Taloon levels of "open a shop, make tons of money" quest line stuff that I personally really enjoy. While he wasn't the strongest party member (especially towards the end), I abused the hell out of his Arrow of Fortune move early in the game to rack up massive amounts of JP for him, which was fun.

Also, shoutout to my boy Temenos - I really loved the detective / inquisition angle they went with for his character, far more refreshing than the goodie-two-shoes angle of the first game's cleric.
Temenos was fantastic, he really gave me Oliver from trails vibes. I was surprised how much i like Paritio too. I thought the secret classes in this game were a little weaker than the previous but I have fun with inventor and the arcanist
 

SpiceRacz

Member
Finished Kirby's Dream Land 2 on GBC and Castlevania Order of Ecclesia on DS. Kirby is a breeze. There's little to no difficulty and that's fine by me. These games are comfort food and I never get tired of playing them.

Order of Ecclesia is a weird mash-up of old and new. It has the usual Metroidvania elements (levels have maps, RPG elements, tons of weapon combos, backtracking), except the levels are all separated on an overworld rather than being connected on one large map. It's probably the most difficult Igavania that I can remember. Story is predictable, but I can forgive that when the gameplay is so good. Highly recommend it. It doesn't require the touch screen at all if your only option is emulation.
 

bender

What time is it?
I finished the career mode in PowerWash Simulator. I have such strange feelings about this game. Namely, I don't think I like it very much, but I did just sink 39 hours into it so I can't say I dislike it either. As a simulator, it isn't very good as there is no fluid dynamics that would require you to use technique (top to bottom, inside to out). It's more like a magic eraser simulator than a power washer simulator. A lot of the levels can feel to large and towards the end of the campaign, it introduces some "gamey" elements that add to the tedium. But after you slog through every level and hit start, you are rewarded with a fast forwarded time lapse of your work which is really satisfying and they brilliantly rolled that into the credits. I ranked it 2/5 but I guess it could have easily been a 3/5 or 4/5 depending on my mood. I'm glad it is over and don't intend to play it again but I'm sure I'll be going through the bonus missions at some point...soon.
 
Going to try and do a better job of updating my played games with some thoughts. I love reading everyone elses updates and I slack on providing my own... so here is
January:
Main Post


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1.Merry Snowballs (Meta Quest 3) - 7/10

Wife got me the MQ3 for Christmas and I randomly gave this game a go. It didn't work on my previous Rift S and saw it was delisted. It was actually a pretty fun time and got difficult near the end. Hard to recommend since it doesn't really exist anymore, but if you have it in your library it's a quick fun time.

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2. Bloo Kid 2 (3DS) - 7/10

Tore my achilles over the holidays and wasn't able to move much. Decided to jump into some of my handheld random games. Bloo Kid 2 is a pretty simple platformer that I bought on the final days of the 3DS. Glad I played it and had fun with it…but it doesn't do a whole lot different than other platformers. The final levels were somewhat challenging but you can knock this out in 2ish hours.

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3. Gato Roboto (Switch) - 8/10

Really enjoyed playing through this one. Unique metroidvania where you have to solve situations with the cat in and out of the mech suit. Highly recommend and this one is around 3 hours or so.

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4. Witcheye (Switch) - 6/10

Really struggled with this one. I loved the art but I never truly felt in control of the eye. It's definitely a unique control system but you could tell it was built with mobile phones first. There were some very tricky levels due to the quick response time and needing to feel full control. If the controls click for you, this could be a fun little gem.


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5. Chicken Wiggle (3DS) - 7/10

Another final 3DS purchase and was happy to play through this one. It's basically a puzzle platformer and I rarely ran into any trouble in it. There is exactly one boss and the boss was tricky to figure out since it is nothing like the rest of the game. The best part of this was the user created levels..but that will sadly be dead with the online services ending soon.

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6. Commander Keen 4: Secret of the Oracle (Steam Deck) - 8/10

Stuck on a couch, it was time to clean up some of my Keen games on the Steam Deck. 4 was a pretty solid entry in this series. The graphics are cleaner and the levels make more sense. I had more fun with this one than the original 3 episodes. Give Keen a chance and maybe he can come back!

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7. Commander Keen 5: The Armageddon Machine (Steam Deck) - 8/10

Another solid entry that builds on episode 4. I enjoyed the level layout in 5 just as much as 4. I wish episode 6 was available since I would like to finish all of the games. I haven't tried Keen Dreams yet…but I am sure I will get there.


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8. Record of Lodoss War-Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (PS5) - 8/10

Another metroidvania with fantastic art. I know nothing of Lodoss War but I still had a blast playing through this. The bosses were a lot of fun throughout the entire game. It was a bit on the easy side, but exploring the entire map was great. Really recommend this one.

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9. Spotto! (3DS) - 7/10

Another 3DS closing purchase. I believe this was on the DSi service and it's a small puzzle game where you toss bombs up at ghosts. This gets extremely tricky by the end of the game and had to power through since I didn't see any other videos or write-ups of this game. Unique and trick, worth a go.

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10. Chronos: Before the Ashes (PS4) - 8/10

Had no idea this was originally a VR game and I had no idea that this was tied into the Remnant games. It's a more simplified Souls game with similar combat and less complex leveling. The unique feature is that each time you die, your character grows 1 year older. There were a few bosses that gave me a challenge but overall I think I died 10ish times ( I was 32 when I finished). I don't see this game talked about much and the trophy completion was pretty low. Might be a hidden gem and I would really recommend giving it a go. I might even pick up the VR version on the Quest store down the road.

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11. Prehistoric Dude (Steam Deck) - 7/10

Not sure how I picked this game up but ended up enjoying it for what it is. Basically a super simple metroidvania. Everything in it is quite easy and the challenge is finding the secrets and getting 100% on the map. There were 3 bosses and they were all pretty easy. Should be pretty cheap on Steam if interested.

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12. Nixxsz Castle (Steam Deck) - 7/10

I want to say this was recommended somewhere on here. It's basically a short punishing platformer where you need pixel perfect jumps. I had to put it down a few times due to the frustrating nature of the game. When you eventually overcome the castle, it is a nice rewarding feeling. It's usually available for under a buck and I think it's well worth that price See if you can get all the trophies and make it to the end!

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13. Cats Hidden in Bali (Steam Deck) - 7/10

Random find on Steam and had a blast for the 30 or so minutes it took to find all the cats. Super basic game with 1 image and finding 100 cats along with a few random secret trophies. They should just combine all of the Hidden Cat games into one package…but whatever. Fun if you like finding games.

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14. Frog Detective 1: The Haunted Island (Steam Deck) - 8/10

Finally gave this one a go after hearing people love it. It's short, cute and has a lot of charm. I think the whole thing took maybe an hour to get through. I didn't love it as much as others, but it's definitely worth a play. I'll probably play eps 2/3 soon.

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15. Steel Diver (3DS) - 7/10

Have had this in my 3DS library for awhile. Basically a tactical submarine sim game with some challenging moments, especially in the end game. The final level/boss was extremely difficult. Once you get the controls and vibe of the game down, it's pretty unique and can be fun. Not a super long experience and you can still find it on eBay for a few bucks.
 
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Midn1ght

Member
4. Remember Me
- Platform: PC - Score: 7/10
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Finally got to play this one. The game still looks very good to me and I enjoyed the futuristic design as well as having Paris as the main location. I liked the music and the combat system too. The story was really bad though and the dialogues extremely corny in my opinion. Not bad overall, I enjoyed my time with it.
 

Jooxed

Gold Member
Game 8 Silent Hill Short Message - I seemed to hate this a lot less than other people l. I didn’t think it was super creepy but I enjoyed it for what it was
 

Pantz

Member
4 games beat in January.

01 - Dark Quest (PC/Steam)
It's a basic grid based strategy game. Not much to it but has cool old school PC game vibes. I want to play the sequels, so played this one first.

02 - Miracle Snack Shop (XSX)
Korean visual novel. It had kind of sexy art for an Xbox game so I gave it a try. Story is pretty good in parts and boring in others. Girl #2 was awful... is someone like this popular in Korea? Just trying to do my part to support sexy stuff on Xbox...it's mostly hopeless.

03 - Miracle Snack Shop - Philia After Story DLC (XSX)
3 or 4 more endings and an outfit viewing mode where you can touch different areas and she will say something different depending where you touch. Pretty rare for something like this on Xbox.

04 - Ravenlok (XSX)
This is a good daily achievement game if you're into Microsoft rewards. At first this game had a fixed viewing angle at all times, recently they added a full rotating camera and I liked it way more. The mix of art styles is enjoyable to look at. It's a mid game with mid story but somehow the very end sent strong nostalgic emotions to me like as if was back in 1999, so it was totally worth it just for that feeling.

I'll try to pick up the pace a bit!
 

Midn1ght

Member
5. The Unfinished Swan
- Platform: PC - Score: 7/10
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Not what I expected but it was alright and sweet. My only nitpick is how short it is. In chapter 2 and 3, you're slowly learning new ways to use the "ink" with the environment, making the game more interesting. Unfortunately the fourth and final chapter lasts only 5 minutes and serves as credits for the game. I just wished it was a little bit longer.
 
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Hustler

Member
Reserved. I haven’t done one of these in quite awhile. I'll list the games I completed in January. My hours are always screwy because I leave games idle while I'm working or step away to do other things.

1. Judgement PS5 -108 hours 9/10 - Absolutely loved this game. Wish I could've gone for the platinum but it's just way too long of a game and the side content is too much if I want to move onto other games. Can't wait to get to Lost Judgement here shortly after a few games, just need a break to not get fatigue with this genre.

2. Midnight Suns PS5 - 106 hours 8/10 - Really enjoyed the game, more than I thought I would given the type of game this is. I never play turn based strategy games in this type of genre. I earned the platinum in this one because I was determined and the Portal helped with that while watching TV. I was ready for it to end and wasn't happy I had to earn the Dark Side points to do it, that was the only downside.

3. Lies of P PS5 - 117 hours 10/10 My favorite game of 2023, wrapped up the Platinum with the 3rd playthrough in 2024. Rave review, can't wait until the DLC comes out and Lies of P 2 is here. Sooooo good!

4. Spyro 3 Reignited Trilogy PS4 - 30 hours 10/10 Wrapped up the Platinum, I was halfway through the game when I dropped it 4 years ago. Cleaned it up and now all 3 have platinums. Loved this series, only got fatigue because of doing all 3 back to back to back.

5. Xuan Yuan Sword 7 PS4 - 38 hours 7/10 Chinese speaking only game with English Subtitles. It was a fun game to play and i enjoyed my time with it, didn't overstay its welcome and no missable trophies was nice.

6. Wolfenstein: Youngblood PS5 : 16 hours 7/10 Good game to play Co - Op. Would not recommend by yourself, gun play is fun, over world and mission structure is crap, weapon leveling is crap, collectibles are crap. Still had a fun time, screw going for the Platinum.

7. Placeholder - Currently going for Final Fantasy 7 Remake PS5 Platinum PS5

When I have time I can list games I want to go for and backlog.... it's really long....
 
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Skeptical

Member
Oh, what the heck. I doubt I can finish this, but it's worth a shot. Here goes...

1. Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (5h, ★★★). My second time through, and much less annoying now that I know the twist. I've got a soft spot for this one now. It's nice playing as an actual whip weilding Belmont in a Metroid-style game for a change. And while there are few progression-improving powerups, I like that it gives you time to breathe and just roam aimlessly in the castle. It's not Symphony, but what is?

2. Ittle Dew 2 (5h, ★★★). It's hard finding a good Zelda-like, but this one isn't bad. A completely open world with lots of secrets is cool. But the controls annoyed me somewhat. If you are going to 1) have knockback, 2) reset a room completely when you leave, and 3) make rooms fairly small, please program your game to keep me from getting knocked through doors! Also, while there are plenty of secrets, they got very repetitive after awhile.

3. QUBE 2 (5h, ★★). A first person puzzle game involving creating different types of platforms on specific areas in a maze. It's easier than the first game, but I think it's also better. Most of the reason its easier is that the puzzles are more self contained, with fewer huge rooms that were hard to see exactly how everything could connect. So in that sense, it was less frustrating as I didn't end up needing to test exactly what height certain blocks are at when you need them far far away. The flip side is that there are only so many permutations of what can be done, so it isn't tough to get to the solution eventually. It's also more structured than the first game which helps from a "only have time to play for 20 minutes" perspective.

4. Octopath Traveler II (50h, ★★★★). As much as I don't care for most RPGs, I loved the first one and loved this as well. The combination of open world, variety of skills, and the boost-break mechanic means the gameplay is far superior to the attack-attack-attack-heal routine that one often finds. And the lack of a boring RPG story helps as well. I think this one is easier than the first, unfortunately, and it clearly isn't as innovative. But on the flip side, 2x battle speed and 2x cutscene speed is something I'm not sure I can live without now.

5. Steamworld Dig 2 (8h, ★★★★★). I loved this game 6 years ago, but wanted to replay it to ensure that said love wasn't simply the glow of a new Switch and getting back to gaming. I had no need to worry; this game is fantastic. Sure, platforming isn't amazing, combat isn't amazing, exploration isn't amazing, puzzles aren't amazing. Jack of all trades, master of none? Perhaps, but the intricate weaving of all the different mechanics is sublime, and the core gameplay is so inviting to simply pick up and never put down. Plus, in the sea of all the cookie cutter Metroidvanias out there, this game's uniqueness stands out.

6. Kirby and the Forgotten Land (13h?, ★★★★). I don't play many Kirby games, but I'm glad I grabbed his first 3D outing. Sure, on the surface it is just as simple and slow as the 2D ones, but there were enough secrets and variety to keep the levels interesting enough. It manages to maintain its fun long enough until the difficulty kicks into overdrive (seriously Hal, no middle ground there?). One weird thing is how completely unbalanced the abilities were. Why would you ever want bomb or cutter when you can cheese everything with fire or ice?

7. Soulstice (16h, ★★). I don't exactly play a whole lot of hack and slash games, but this makes me appreciate Astral Chain more. I mean, it's got a few unique ideas like your soul sister helping you, but the camera is awful and even an amateur like myself thinks the moveset is limited.

8. Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (10-ish h?, ★★★). Personally, the Oracle games were the confirmation of Zelda's decline for me into the realm of painfully formulaic retreads. That said, I'm impressed by some of the dungeons here; they are way more labyrinthine than linear puzzles like the rest of the formulaic Zeldas, so props for that! On the other hand, there's a lot of padding here too, which is just exacerbated by the slow transfer between time periods (seriously, it's like, 7 seconds)

9. Super Mario Bros 2 US (2h, ★★★★). Is Mario 2 still great fun? Yes, yes it is. I didn't know it wasn't a "real" Mario as a kid, and now as an adult I don't care. Sure, the controls and knockback are kinda janky which normally is a killer for platformers, but they are still better than most NES platformers and the level design is brilliant. All the different shortcuts are great, and between the vases and the potion-doors, it has a great sense of wonder and ability to find new secrets. Sure, it's no Mario 3, but still fun.

10. Sword of the Vagrant / The Vagrant (8h, ★★★). A cheap side-scrolling action RPG that is clearly inspired by Vanillaware (in more ways than one...). Yes, it's clearly low budget, but the combat was reasonably fun and the environments always felt good to charge through. Honestly, the only real negatives I have is that some of the momentum when jumping is bad and that, while they tried to avoid it via cooldowns, the combat does end up being too easy to just face tank and gulp down potions to win. Yeah, that last one could be considered a big issue, but it's still a joy to play.

11. Yars Recharged (5h, ★★★). The only other Recharged game I played was Centipede, which was basically the same with a fresh coat of paint. This one, though, is a complete reimagining. And what a reimagining! For a supposedly simple arcade game, there are plenty of different elements, risk-reward dynamics, and even some basic strategy of when to use your cannon and what to use it on. Moment to moment gameplay is a blast. That said, the main campaign is very long and takes a while to get interesting, and some of the gimmicky missions are a bit annoying by taking away some of your options and forcing you through a set path. But other than that, it's great.

12. Fire Emblem Engage (51h, ★★★★). The story and writing was even worse than I imagined, to the point that it was downright embarrassing. But so what? This is the best combat Fire Emblem has ever seen. I tend to see this series as the comfort food of Tactical RPGs; not particularly challenging but still fun to play through. I went with Hard/Casual, and I am so happy I didn't bother with Classic because some of those battles were downright crazy. I'm not sure how you can survive some of those with your whole team intact when various bosses will charge you and OHKO practically anyone. Chain attacks and weapon breaking did wonders to shake up the formula and made you rethink both the order of your moves and the risk of leaving people exposed. And no stupid classroom teaching this time! I think I still prefer the Tellius games for various reasons, and like I said the writing was awful, but hopefully this combat is the baseline for the series' future.

13. Cocoon (5h, ★★★). I might have appreciated the game better if I had time to play for more than 30 minutes at a time, but it was nice. Admittedly, it was easy; the only time I got stuck is when I didn't know you could swap orbs 90% of the way through the game; it never came up and I always just put one down before grabbing another. Honestly, I think this game was meant more for the experience than the challenge, which is ok I guess. The world hopping was cool when you first see it and does get pleasantly convoluted I will admit, and the game does look pretty. One thing I do want to give props to is that, while you are doing a lengthy puzzle, the music will start adding in some triumphant notes in the middle of it to let you know you are on the right track. I thought that was pretty cool idea.

14. Death's Door (8 h, ★★). It's not a bad game by any means. But combat was only ok and there honestly wasn't much incentive to go exploring despite the game clearly intending you to. I think part of the problem is the lack of a map combined with a large confusing area that all looks the same and is therefore easy to get turned around in. Nothing really stood out too much other than the artstyle.

15. Haiku the Robot (6 h, ★★★). This is a "wander around until you find something" Metroidvania, which may not be everyone's cup of tea. But I thought it was refreshing. I only got stumped once when I missed the obvious, but I thought it was cool that you could seemingly get several items in any order and fight many bosses in any order. It is a very nonlinear game even by Metroidvania standards, which is great. Also, one of the powerups is so useful for getting around that I almost think it should be standard issue for any game.

16. Star Fox 64 (2 h, ★★). I think it's safe to say that rail shooters are not my genre. OK, so it's cool that there are multiple routes to encourage multiple playthroughs, but I just did the easy route and was done with it. I was struggling with aiming and more importantly being able to visualize how far away attacks were and when to dodge. Is it just that the game is old? I don't know; I was darn good at Rogue Squadron back in the day. I think it's just the rail shooter bit. Oh well, I gave it a fair shake.

17. Eastern Exorcist (10 h, ★★). This is a weird one. It's a side-scrolling action RPG that looks nice and plays very fluidly. But it's also two small campaigns in one that are completely independent. That's not a huge problem, but it does mean that the game has some ideas that are underbaked. Each campaign has six different magic systems, each with a skill tree. But with the campaign being so short, you really only have time to level up and get used to one of them. There is also a sidequest system, but with only one sidequest for the entire campaign! It's not bad. It's just weird.

18. A Short Hike (1 h, ★★). Well, at least the title is honest. It's decent, there's a lot of freedom and a surprising amount to do and ability to get lost. It just didn't particularly grab me to want to fish or run races or whatever; not my thing. The one problem I did have is that the last act was so short and pointless. You reach an area that is supposedly more challenging to traverse, making you think this will be an involved process, but the new challenge disappears immediately and you are done a minute later. Makes it kinda pointless and the ending a bit of a letdown.

19. Beyond Oasis (6 h, ★). Well, if this was a Zelda killer, it's no surprise to see which franchise is still alive. It decides to focus almost exclusively on combat, but it's not much fun. And then there's the platforming that is not precise. Really, the too-large sprites and stiff controls fail to make the moment to moment experience any fun at all. Last time I trust Sega fans to know what they're talking about...

20. Super Metroid (3h, ★★★★★). Do I really need to justify why this game gets 5 stars? Didn't think so. Ridley was easier than I remembered him to be. Maridia wasn't as annoying as I remembered it to be. And the game is still awesome.

21. Superliminal (2h, ★★). It's a cool concept, to be sure. But two little problems. While I am impressed at how well they could program the objects to shift location based on perspective, there were still many times where it didn't work correctly and I was struggling with the game rather than the puzzles. And secondly, the concept played itself out fairly quickly, presumably why the game is so short. Definitely a cool, unique experience though.

22. Mario x Rabbids Kingdom Battle (25h, ★★★). The game was too easy, but that's my fault. You can change the difficulty at any time, but I refuse to do so and thus played on normal the entire time. If you have any tactical RPG-like experience, don't do that. But other than that and a few other minor quibbles, this game was fun. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about how free your movement is in this game, but it did open things up and I got used to it quickly. You had plenty of strategies for how to complete your objectives, which often resulted in an aggressive playstyle for me. I don't usually do that in tactics games, so props for that.

23. Super Mario Land (0.5h, ★) - With this being the big Mario title for the Game Boy's launch, it's no surprise Tetris became synonymous with the system. I understand constraints needed for the low quality hardware, but only 12 levels? And so much repeated architecture? It'd be fine, I suppose, if the classic Mario controls were present, but it didn't even feel right to run and jump. The sequel wasn't perfect in this respect either, but it sure felt a lot better than this. And you can't make a great platformer with bad controls.

24. Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 (10h, ★★★). I don't have any experience with the original so I can't complain how this version totally ruined it forever. All I know is, it was fun. While blocking was required, I did feel that the game encouraged a very aggressive playstyle. I found that to be quite refreshing. It's not a perfect game by any means - bosses were annoying and oddly easy, and the camera jerked around so much I lost track of which one was me - but the overall aggressiveness of it gave it a nice flow (same as MxR; seems to be a pattern for me this month). I may even decide to play the other ones at some point.

25. Kirby's Dreamland 2 (3h?, ★★). A dramatic improvement over the first game. I'm not sure if it's better than Kirby's Adventure; I'll take secrets over the animal helpers any day. But for what it is, it works well. A reasonable amount of variety for what it is, some optional collectibles, not bad for a GB game.

26. Legend of Zelda (1h, ★★★★★). Yep, still my favorite game of all time. Ain't nostalgia grand? I know people hate this game for its obtuseness, but I love the nonlinear exploration. And the first quest really isn't that obtuse if you have all the tools available to you. But this game is the reason I laugh when people complain about Breath of the Wild and want "classic" or "traditional" Zelda instead. Nope, BotW is the classic Zelda. It's the first and only true sequel to the original. It's just you and a giant world out there for you to explore. Now get going.

27. Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 (4h, ★★★). These games are weird, and I may just not be good enough for them. Unlike a typical action platformer, these games are easy to finish, giving you so many over the top tools that even supposedly challenging bosses will go down after a couple tries. Instead, it's about mastering the game, which is insanely hard with so much stuff going on and needing to pick just the right toolset at a moments notice. Don't think I can do that. But I can't deny how fluid and fun the game is when you are doing things right and getting into a flow. So props for that.

28. Vampire Survivors (13h, ★★). I can see why this has an appeal; there's something primitively fun about surviving all of these waves. But unfortunately, it didn't quite have enough staying power. For starters, the 30 minute time limit is too long, as you are likely to max everything out well before then and thus just spend 10 minutes sitting around doing nothing. And when you do finally win your first round, it feels anticlimactic since so many other things unlock in different ways (along with the whole sitting around for 10 minutes thing).

29. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (2h, ★★★). I don't care what anyone says, I like this game. I also fail to see why people claim it is so hard. Haven't you played Castlevania or Ninja Gaiden or Battletoads or Ghosts and Goblins? This is a walk in the park! Nothing is too challenging, very little if any grinding is needed, and it's over before you know it. And while I know it can be cheesed, I still think it has one of the best final bosses of all time, or at least of its time.

30. Tinykin (7h, ★★★★). It's obvious why people compare this to Pikmin, what with being the size of a bug and being followed by loyal minions, but it plays entirely different. The Tinykin really aren't the star of the show, being more like tools than anything else. Instead, this is a relaxing, a low stress, but more importantly an enjoyable collectothon. The maps are well designed with lots of verticality and nooks everywhere, providing for plenty of exploration and some light puzzle solving. The variety of objectives with sufficient rewards without outright requiring you to find every last speck of pollen means there is still a satisfying end to the game without aiming for 100%. It's not usually my type of game, but it was a great time nonetheless.

31. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (4h, ★★★★). Kinda hard to say something about this game, since everyone already knows it is great. I'm going to say something negative instead. The overworld is kinda weak. Not the most fun to traverse, and not much there. This is also the only Zelda game where I was able to find all heart containers on my own. Boo! As someone who greatly prefers the exploration aspect of the series, it's a letdown compared to the first game (and yes, I know I'm the only one who thinks that). It's also an excellent game. But you know that already!

32. Metroid Zero Mission (3h, ★★★). It's better than I remembered. I know it gets a lot of praise, but I'm going to list some negatives. 1) It still feels too small and cramped (not quite as bad as I remembered), especially when you have to constantly move back and forth through the same rooms to switch from Brinstar and Norfair in the first 1/3 of the game or so. 2) Ridley is way way way too easy. Even Kraid was harder. That was one of the most "That's it?!?" battles I've ever seen. 3) I still think the idea of getting power bombs at the very end when you are so close to the final boss kills any incentive to actually try to get other collectables you missed and is thus a bad idea in general. But it's still better than Fusion. And while it may be small, it is nice that it can be completed at such a brisk pace.

33. Mega Man V (3h?, ★★). Holy Slowdown Batman! It's cool that they finally got around to doing an original Mega Man game on the Game Boy, and it's cool that it even has a fairly original plot. Some of the weapons are quite inventive. It's got the right elements there. But the slowdown is insane and neverending.

34. Prince of Persia The Lost Crown (19h, ★★★★). Some Metroidvanias focus on exploration, some on action, some on platforming. Prince of Persia somehow manages to focus on all three, and does all of them well! Boss fights were tough but doable (and stylish!), platforming took a queue from older PoP games and took full advantage of your moveset, and (despite being quite long for a Metroidvania) it never dragged. In particular, the crystal time doppleganger thing was used well for both combat and exploration I think. It's not perfect, of course, but it's definitely a must play for any Metroidvania fan. Heck, it's worth playing even if you aren't.

35. Batman: Arkham Asylum (13h, ★★★). I can see the comparisons to Metroid Prime. Of course, one is overtly gameplay-centric with unique, varied environments, clever environmental traversal, immediate rewards for exploration, a fun, unique mechanism for traversal through tight spaces, and virtually no down time once you start. The other is constantly stopping you to hear people yapping away, the same gray gloom everywhere, fairly simplistic maps, nothing but boring lore for exploration, the same constant cut scene every time you walk through a vent... You can probably tell which one I prefer. Still, for a highly rated AAA Western game, it's pretty good.

36. Densetsu no Starfy (3h?, ★★). I always wanted to try this series since I first heard about it 20 some odd years ago for some reason. So I'm glad I got the chance; I just wish it could have been in English. Who knew that a cutesy little platformer would have so much text? Still, ignoring that, it had some pretty good ideas, a different type of movement, and a decent artstyle. It was also too easy and had a ton of fetch quests. One part made you redo a section 3 times, going a little further each time, making for rather painful padding. So I'm glad I played it, but I'm not going to go for the other ones at the moment.

37. Dusk (13h, ★★). I'm not an FPS person, so I'm not the best judge. All I know is that this didn't really move the needle for me. It's an obvious throwback to 90s era games, which is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it does it well, but there just isn't anything special enough to make me think I shouldn't just be playing Doom or Heretic. There were also a couple parts that just annoyed me, such as the massive difficulty spike of trying to do a boss fight over bottomless pits. I have terrible spatial recognition in FPS games; I don't need this kind of aggravation. And the epic final arena battle against hundreds was basically just me running around in circles waiting for everyone to kill each other, hardly fun. But if you already like old school FPSs, you'll undoubtedly enjoy this one as well.

38. Kirby Return to Dreamland (8h, ★★). I've never played a modern 2D Kirby, so this was a pleasant surprise. More fast moving than the slow pace I was used to, so that's a good thing. And the crazy variety in copy abilities is impressive. Level design was fine, nothing too exciting but it got the job done. The new epilogue was short but reasonably fun, albeit nothing special. But still, it's a fine package, and probably the end of my Kirby wanderings.

39. Spyro the Dragon 2 (7h, ★★★). It's been a while since I've played the first, but I think this one was better. The decreased emphasis on finding every gem (although still there for people who want it) and a Mario64-esque emphasis on multiple goals per level helped a lot. It simply felt like more variety which helped keep each world distinct and made it worthwhile to keep seeing different areas. I still find Spyro a little tough to control, but it's not a complete dealkiller.

40. Klonoa (3h, ). There's something off in controlling Klonoa here. I think the hitboxes are off on grabbing enemies, I'm not sure. But something about this game made it uncomfortable to play. I was also surprised at just how short the game is. But frankly, given the frustration in some of the controls, I'm not complaining. Cool design on the character. Interesting concept for a platformer. But the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Hopefully the second game is better.

41. Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble (11h, ★★★★). Oh yeah, Monkeys are back. I still miss the pure arcade approach, of playing 30 stages in a row with zero saving. But I'll be honest, I probably couldn't handle it today, so I understand why they don't bother. And they do have Time Attack with leaderboards to at least mimic it a little bit. And as a replacement, we get some crazy good challenging levels, levels that quickly outclassed anything in the original outside of Extra or Master levels. There are a few of the ones I really hate (launching oneself straight up and trying to fall in the right location), but thankfully they are few and far between. So while the first game may still hold the top place in my heart, this is a solid silver medal and will undoubtedly be replayed many times.

42. Islets (7h, ★★★). This game surprised me. When I first started, it felt disappointing: an incredibly spongy first boss, blocky and boring level designs, and at least initially feeling like nothing was special. But as the game opened up, it grew on me more. Spongy bosses became more interesting. Traversal was fast, convenient, and fun (seriously, climbing up walls is as fast as running. This little detail, even if not realistic, makes a huge deal when backtracking through a game with plenty of vertical elements). The idea of connecting islands together led to an interesting progression. So while I started off feeling like this was just another Metroidvania, it became a solid entry in the genre.

43. Trifox (5h, ). It's a top down (or isometric, close enough) action game that just doesn't do enough to separate it from anything else out there. It's fairly slow moving, it's hard to aim some of the attacks, it's hard to see what's going on sometimes, and the enemy variety is rather lacking. I think it's meant to be replayed multiple times with friends, but I don't have friends and it's not worth playing through twice anyway.

44. Steamworld Dig (4h, ). For a game that was completely superceded by its successor, this still isn't bad. Sure, it's shorter and simpler, but the main drive of digging and selling and upgrading and digging and finding new caves is still there. In that sense, I still had a lot of fun with this. It really is just a great concept. But, well, there is literally nothing that this one does better than SD2. All you can say here is that there are some caves that are different levels. Other than that, there is no reason to play Dig now that Dig 2 exists.

45. VVVVV (2h, ). I can see the potential here. Needing to explore to find your next area of challenging platforming was a nice idea, and the unique tidbit of manipulating gravity rather than a jump like every other platformer made it stand out. I liked it for that, and the level design was solid enough. But I never felt I mastered anything. Manipulating both your momentum and gravity always felt random to me. Maybe you have to be frame perfect, but I'm not. I've played and felt I improved in other precision platformers, but this one still seemed like random chance. Tis a pity.

46. Bang on Balls: Chronicles (6h, ). There is a lot to like here. It's an indie 3D platformer with massive worlds to explore, plenty of secrets, some fun customization if you are into that sort of thing, and a quirky weird charm. That's the good part. The bad part is that the secrets often don't feel like they stand out as worthwhile missions, the movement is somewhat slow and without the expressiveness of Mario or even Hat Girl, and combat isn't any fun. So I wasn't really motivated to get the full experience from it.
 
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SpiceRacz

Member
After wrapping up Castlevania Order of Ecclesia, I jumped right into Portrait of Ruin. Another solid Igavania. It's surprisingly short though and feels light on content. You can see some of the inspiration for Order of Ecclesia here (separate smaller levels in place of one larger map). There's 2 protagonists now and you can swap between them and have one AI controlled to fight alongside you. It makes for some interesting magic combos, but overall doesn't serve much purpose. Didn't find myself interested in the story either. The dialogue is bad and the characters are really bland. You can see the developers were running out of ideas by this point. Still, there's a good game here. I would rate it somewhere near the bottom of the Igavanias - between Harmony of Dissonance and Order of Ecclesia.
 

Blindy

Member
1) Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk(Switch) 1/2
- I genuinely like visual novels so I wanted to give this a shot and it was on sale for the Switch so a 2 for 1 bundle sounded good. The 1st game is very small in length, talking maybe 1 hour at best and it doesn't really do much. It just came and went. Maybe for people who suffer with mental health/psychosis can relate to the content a little more but this was started and finished with little to no real connection to the game. The art looks nice and it's a very digestible game(If you can call it that as you do nothing but watch, which is fine as a visual novel) but it just comes...........and goes. Pretty unimpressive game but I was hoping the sequel would do it better and well.....

2) Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk(Switch) 1/11
- Yeah the sequel doesn't do it much better. This does have actual length as in like 2 hours and even more if you truly want to see all the endings but honestly, you are better off watching these on Youtube. This one has some point and click potions and I can see there was more meat to the bone on this one then the original but unless you can relate to the content, it's story & message doesn't resonate. Graphics/art are the best part of this but overall, I came away pretty unimpressed with these two games. There is certain dialogue to answer and how to answer them that dictates the kind of ending you get and while it is cryptic in a way, the reward just doesn't do much at all. No real relation to the main character, no real care or connection about what they're going through. Underwhelming group of visual novels.
 

Jooxed

Gold Member
Game 9 - 2/8 - Trails from Zero - Steam Deack - lots of fun, enjoyed the crew and all the improvements from liberel to crossbell. Story was a little slow until the end even then it did pick up too much but had a good time. On my way to Azure!
 

Andyliini

Member
I don't think I can beat 52 games a year, but why not a least write in the games I have beaten this year:

Game 1 - Dragon Quest Monsters - The Dark Prince on Nintendo Switch
Fun game, mostly combat and monster ranching focused, the story is quite light. Works quite well as a side story to Dragon Quest IV

Games 2 & 3 - The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles on Nintendo Switch
I count these are separate games, since each one has individual end titles. Visual novels were well written, but there were a lot of story and meaningless banter to read through, it got quite tiring by the end.
 

Dacvak

No one shall be brought before our LORD David Bowie without the true and secret knowledge of the Photoshop. For in that time, so shall He appear.
Adding 3 more to the list.

nintendo switch animations GIF

Cuphead + DLC (Switch) 2/11 🔟
Cuphead is a borderline-perfect game imo. It’s a perfect length, it’s got absolutely perfect gameplay mechanics and controls, and it’s got the perfect balance of difficulty, never being too hard. Plus it’s just a joy to look at and listen to. My only complaint is that I want more. 10/10

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Bonk’s Adventure (PCEDuo) 2/11 8️⃣
My friend got me a TurboDuo in January, and my long-awaited copy of Bonk’s Adventure arrived last week. This game was worth the wait, especially when playing with an OG TurboGrafx controller with the little turbo switches. It’s got pretty solid gameplay, and it’s not too hard. But it’s so fun cheesing parts of the harder levels and bosses with the turbo attack-hover. I’m really excited to play Bonk 2. 8/10

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Felix the Cat (Game Boy via Analogue Pocket) 2/13 7️⃣
I rolled this game with a randomizer app I have that selects a random Game Boy game from a complete list of all releases. I never even heard of this game, and this was probably the fourth game I rolled tonight that I didn’t immediately quit. Turns out, it’s a pleasantly competent platformer. The controls and physics are fine and reminiscent of old Hudson Soft games on the NES because—surprise—it’s a Hudson Soft game. What was really cool was how Felix’s character/vehicle sprite changed for almost every world, and had multiple versions based on your powerup. I’ve never played the NES version, but I’d assume the Game Boy game is modeled after it. Wasn’t too long, either. Beat the game in a couple hours. 7/10

It’s been a good few days of gaming recently.
 

marcincz

Member
Game 5 - Silent Hill: The Short Message (PS5) - 02h 44m
Beat 02/02/2024 - my score: 6/10

Game 6 - Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (PS5) - 38h 34m
Beat 14/02/2024 - my score: 8/10

Yakuza took me so long, because I did platinum trophy.
 

SpiceRacz

Member
Spent basically the entire week playing through Super Mario Wonder. The game is a masterpiece of 2D platforming. It feels like it has hints of Mario World, Donkey Kong Country 2, Rayman Legends, Mario Galaxy, and Odyssey in it. I’ve always said, Nintendo is at its best when they’re trying new stuff and not just spinning their wheels. This is a great example of that. They throw new mechanics and level design at you constantly.

The only real complaint I have is with the difficulty. There’s a handful of 5 star levels, if you go looking for them. But even then, they’re not that hard.

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7. RoboCop: Rogue City

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20h-ish
. Did my best to do as many sidequests as possible.

I feel your enjoyment of this game hinges a lot on you liking RoboCop and movies from the 80s in general. If you don't, you will find this game a clunky, outdated shooter starring a hunk of metal that moves like a snail in molasses, a kitschy yet weirdly enjoyable story, and a very forgettable "open world" that brings down the pace a lot between missions. If you're old like me, you'll likely appreciate how much of a labor of love to the original work this game is. So, remove a star if you're under 30 and/or you don't know/like RoboCop.

My Score: ★★★★

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8. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown


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17:28h. Normal difficulty. 66% of the game beaten.

While I wasn't sure (and still am not) of the art direction and the graphics (particularly the character models, that look like early PS3) I believe that making Prince of Persia a full 2D metroidvania was a right choice. The sense of urgency and powerlesness the original games conveyed is gone, of course, as there's no time limit - but the platforming is very, very good, even quite challenging sometimes, and the combat holds its own. The story is just serviceable, and the last boss looks downright goofy - but I did find a lot of enjoyment in this game. For those curious, a friend of mine took around 30h to 100% it, but I'm not the collect-them-all type.

SteamDeck: After fighting for hours with the UbiConnect installation not liking my WiFi and having to download using my cellphone as an access point, turns out this game works great in the Deck locked 40fps.

My Score: ★★★★★


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9. Far Cry 6

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35:43h.
Normal difficulty. Did everything except for races and supply drops, which I do not enjoy. Some incidental spoilers

Another game that I would never have played if it wasn't for GamePass. I was told the gameplay was pretty bad, but I actually enjoyed it quite a bit, though it IS classic Far Cry (minus towers) so if you are expecting something new... well, don't. The weapons are fun to use but some of them (la Varita, holy shit. If you combine it with the Triador Supremo that allows you to shoot through walls it basically trivializes the game from that point onwards. I killed Benitez without even seeing her from like 500m outside her base) are overpowered as all fuck. But I love map-conquering games so it tickled my pickle right.

The story... I was warned it was bad, but HOLY SHIT was it cringe. This game is pretty much The Outer Worlds: every named man in Yara is either evil, useless, cowardly, comedic relief, or disposable. Communism is heckin raderino and the bad guys are doing a fascism and an homophobia. You basically lead a handful of yass-slay-queen young racialized empowered wymyn to defeat the evil, evil men (plus a couple decorative women) including a canadian Donald Trump pastiche. The rapper group was particularly bad. The rapper girl (who is basically a foam-in-the-mouth rabid bitch) kills yaran Melania Trump for misgendering her trans boyfriend. And there's a drag queen character called Rosa Mel Paquete. Yeeeeah. That's the general tone.

I'm giving it 4 stars because I liked the gameplay, it had some fucking badass setpieces, and I didn't find any bugs, probably because they've been fixed already. But the story is aggressively bad. Give it a go if you have GamePass and you're willing to turn off your brain for 40h.

My Score: ★★★★

Original post
 
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35:43h.
Normal difficulty. Did everything except for races and supply drops, which I do not enjoy. Some incidental spoilers

Another game that I would never have played if it wasn't for GamePass. I was told the gameplay was pretty bad, but I actually enjoyed it quite a bit, though it IS classic Far Cry (minus towers) so if you are expecting something new... well, don't. The weapons are fun to use but some of them (la Varita, holy shit. If you combine it with the Triador Supremo that allows you to shoot through walls it basically trivializes the game from that point onwards. I killed Benitez without even seeing her from like 500m outside her base) are overpowered as all fuck. But I love map-conquering games so it tickled my pickle right.

The story... I was warned it was bad, but HOLY SHIT was it cringe. This game is pretty much The Outer Worlds: every named man in Yara is either evil, useless, cowardly, comedic relief, or disposable. Communism is heckin raderino and the bad guys are doing a fascism and an homophobia. You basically lead a handful of yass-slay-queen young racialized empowered wymyn to defeat the evil, evil men (plus a couple decorative women) including a canadian Donald Trump pastiche. The rapper group was particularly bad. The rapper girl (who is basically a foam-in-the-mouth rabid bitch) kills yaran Melania Trump for misgendering her trans boyfriend. And there's a drag queen character called Rosa Mel Paquete. Yeeeeah. That's the general tone.

I'm giving it 4 stars because I liked the gameplay, it had some fucking badass setpieces, and I didn't find any bugs, probably because they've been fixed already. But the story is aggressively bad. Give it a go if you have GamePass and you're willing to turn off your brain for 40h.

My Score: ★★★★

Original post

No you know what? I actually want to rant a bit more about Far Cry 6. Yara is very obviously a pastiche of Cuba, and Far Cry 6 would have been the perfect game to explore a take on a communist dictatorship in the 20th century. The propaganda, the repression of homosexuality and students, the relocation of farmers, the forced redistribution of wealth... all of the game's issues would fit perfectly under that sort of atmosphere. But instead of that, they decided to make ersatz-Batista the villain and lots of stuff in the setting of the game make no sense if Yara is under a fascist dictatorship (US blockade? To a country that the Soviet Union actually denounced? Yeah right)

They had a perfect villain guy in there, Espinosa, this game's equivalent to Fidel Castro. The Legends fought the father of the current villain and put him in power because he was the smartest of them all. Espinosa could have had the power go to his head; having you fight alongside young repressed yarans and Espinosa's own old comrades would have been much more effective narratively. But no, after removing Papá Castillo from power he then drove the country to ruin. Not because he was a communist, mind; because he was a weak communist and he made the unforgivable mistake of opening the island to international trade with the West which made the soviets sadge. The "Legends of 67" spend most of the game pouting because they didn't let Lobo (The Che Guevara analogue) assassinate him before it was too late. They had a perfect setting but they had to do historical-narrative judo to it to turn it on its head. I don't know if they did that in order to fit their viewpoints or because they're scared of offending redditors. In both cases, I hate that very much.

Fuck this game. I'm retrospectively removing a star just because I'm mad. I'm not actually editing the post tho. Fuck that too.
 
February is a wrap... not finishing anything else this month.

February 2024 Roundup
Total: 10/52


Original Post


6. Crysis - 10 Hours - PC GamePass - Feb 2nd
Since its release in 2007, Crysis has been on my “one day I’ll manage to play this” list, but I never had the proper PC , and I purposely avoided the consoles/remastered versions, as I wanted to experience the original release without compromises.
17 years later and I finally have experienced it from start to finish for the first time, and it’s staggering how well this holds up graphically. I was so impressed with the game’s physics and draw distances too… while shooting at a boat from a very far distance (maybe 300 meters) I was still able to knock over trees and see the foliage moving during and after the fall.
The gameplay is short and the loop is simple, but it’s fun to figure out the best way to approach every encounter, and there are a lot of memorable moments too. Taking cover from a shooting helicopter inside a wooden shack while the explosions levels the whole structure around you is still incredible today and I wish more games could spare to put more focus on physics like this.

7. Pathologic 2 - 25 hours - Steam - Feb 4th
This game has been sitting on my backlog since February 2020. I bought it literally one month before the lockdown in my country, and much to my mistake I have tried playing it during the actual pandemic in 2020. Huge mistake… I could not bring myself to finish it and it actually made me feel physically unwell at the time, so I shelved it.
4 years later and I decided to give it another go, starting a new game. It’s a gut wrenching experience I’ll probably never forget.
I feel this is the title most deserving of the “Survival Horror” label I’ve ever played. It’s not scary at all, but it’s despairing and suffocating. Having to manage your hunger, thirst, exhaustion, while juggling all the quests to save the citizens, find a cure to the pest, and watching the city decay in a slow death is practically impossible for the first time players, and that’s the point of the game. It forces you to make hard decisions all the time, it makes you lose interactions that would probably be really important to the story, but would put your character in a difficult surviving situation.
It’s one of the most unique experiences I’ve had with videogames, but I would not recommend it to anyone.

8. Crysis 2 - 10 Hours - PC GamePass - Feb 10th
Unlike Crysis 1, this game has never been on my radar. The discourse surrounding it at the time of the launch never grabbed my attention, so to be honest I have never considered playing it. Now having played the first one for the first time (and the fact that this is also included in Game Pass with EA Play), I decided to play the whole trilogy.
Crysis 2 is weird. I think it’s a good FPS, but to me it feels like such a departure from the first game, especially contrasting with the first part of the first game that had more freedom. The suit mechanics are practically the same, but now the game has a very “modern game” approach to objectives, interaction and navigation. While the first one threw you in a cenario and let you decide how you wanted to solve it, this one is like: go to point A if you want to sneak, point B to flank the enemy, point C has a heavy weapon that’s useful against this enemy, point D you can explore to find collectibles. That happened even before I had a chance to look at the map. There are also some weird infinite spawning enemies that really broke immersion for me.
The physics are also very scaled-back in comparison with the first game. Graphics are still really good though.

9. Resistance: Fall of Man - 12 Hours - PS3 - Feb 16th
I just added this one to my PS3 collection, it’s one of the launch titles I never got the opportunity to play at the time.
I really enjoyed this game. It sets off to a slow start, but as you get to Manchester (Chapter 3) it really picks some steam up and never loses the rhythm again. Some of the battles are really cool with multiple dozen enemies coming at you at once.
The graphics and the controls definitely aged a bit, but aside from that it’s a really fun experience. Really solid PS3 launch title, it’s a shame it didn’t sell well apparently. Maybe this is a good candidate for a full blown remake or reboot with modern triple A graphics. Sony does need a good FPS game again.

10. Bayonetta - 11 Hours - Steam - Feb 20th
I bought this game on a Steam sale in 2020 and never touched it. It’s just not the kind of game that I usually enjoy, but I ended up having a good time with it.
The core of this game really is the over the top self aware campiness, and it got a few good chuckles out of me throughout the gameplay, though I must admit that I didn’t even pretend to care about this game’s story. I started reading all the books at first but they bored me and I just wanted to kill some angels.


March Preview:

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (not sure if I'll be able to finish it though)
Crysis 3
Mario Wonder
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
 
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Jooxed

Gold Member
Game 10 Neo TWEWY - Dragged a bit towards the end but a great end to character arcs and satisfying.
 

Andyliini

Member
Game 4 - Another Code Recollection
I count this as one game, since both games are played back to back with credits at the end of second ge only. Mice to finally finish them both, although the production budget must not have been high.

Game 5 - Gravity Rush 2
Loved the first one, and was finally able to play this one. I think I liked the first game more. This one dragged on, and should have been much shorter. So much busywork, bit the story and gameplay were fine.

Game 6 - Mario Vs. Donkey Kong
Played the remake. Fun game, but short. Was almost addicted until I beat it. Did not bother with Time Attack, though. Screw those.
 
Just beat sea of stars thought the music sounded similar to the sabotage never realised it was the same developers great game although the final boss was underwhelming.
 

Midn1ght

Member
7. RiME
- Platform: PC - Score 7/10
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Not bad but not great. I found the movement a little sluggish and slow and the puzzles were really easy. The game looks beautiful though and the music is really really good and fitting. I would play a sequel with the same vibe, better movement and maybe some light combat.
 
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